Indigo Skirmish
by Just Your Life
Summary: Oneshot. Gameverse Red-centric.


Indigo Skirmish

**Disclaimer:** The author of this fanfiction does not, in any way, profit from the story and all rights to ___Pokémon_____belong to their original creator(s).

Smoke rose from a building surrounded by grass plains and highlands, the building stood unfazed, however, and was merely contemplated by few passing ___Pokémon_ and the occasional human. It was not unusual for the building to have smoke rising from it; in fact, people were actually accustomed to the occasional fire and earthquake coming from the building. A flash of brown sped past the grassy plains and into the building. The ___Pokémon_ ignored the figure, just like they had with the building. A few rusted statues stood in front of the building, the ancient looking statues stood dully in the hot midday sun, the glazing of the statues evident from its position under the sun. Inscribed in barely illegible writing on the base of each statue were the words: "The highest ___Pokémon authority! The ultimate Goal of Trainers! -Indigo Plateau."_

___Red coughed as the smoke billowed from the battlefield to him. The extremity of the battle he was currently in unimaginable. His rival bruised and battered like him, simply smirked._

___"Never did I imagine our final battle would be here, Red!" Blue grinned confidently and rather smugly. Red simply focused at the task as hand, ordering Venusaur to use Sludge Bomb. The Venusaur complied, unleashing a pore of toxic sludge on its opponent, Charizard. _

___"Our last Pokémon and they just happen to be our starters, coincidence Red?" Blue went into a sudden coughing fit. The Fire Blast attack Blue had ordered Charizard to use had been a turning point, tiring his Charizard and missing only to hit the middle of the battlefield, making the entire battlefield in a blazing inferno. Red had not registered what Blue said, thinking of what move to use next. _

___"Charizard, Fire Spin!" yelled Blue, causing Red to furrow his eyebrows at his rival's amateurish attack. __What's he thinking? ____Pondered Red, fearing that his enigma of an opponent had figured out a strategy. _

Charizard released a week, fiery blast from his mouth, converging at Venusaur in but not causing much damage. However, Venusaur was trapped in a vortex in which it could not reach its trainer, negating any attempt to heal the Venusaur using an item. Red thought over his situation, it wasn't too bad, his Venusaur still had the will to fight and so did he. Red grinned knowingly. Blue had anticipated that Red was going to use an item on Venusaur, so he attempted to separate him from Venusaur. But that wasn't stopping Red. Red ran over to Venusaur, ignoring the flickering flames licking his skin and used a hyper potion; restoring Venusaur's health to its fullest. Red ran back, ignoring the scorching pain from the burns he got. Blue didn't seem too surprised, almost as if he knew Red was going to do that.

"You always treat ___Pokémon like they're your family or something… When will you learn that Pokémon should be trained to be strong! Not to compensate for lost family members!" sneered Blue, a frown growing on his usually smirking features. _Red sighed dolefully at his rival's statement.

"Scorch 'em with Fire Blast," commanded Green, grinning again. Red could only watch as a blazing embodiment of flames collided with Venusaur. Venusaur could only take so much. After taking a closer look, Red noticed that Venusaur was burned. _Oh no_, Red's mouth popped open. All his work amounted to nothing if he lost this battle. Worst, if he lost, Blue would be another misguided soul who mistreats his ___Pokémon. Red wistfully clenched his fists as he struggled to find a strategy against Charizard. When nothing came to mind, Red decided to fight fire with fire. Or, more specifically, with brute force._

___"Frenzy Plant," Red whispered those words and, although Blue didn't hear, his Venusaur did. Venusaur stretched her vines, spreading them and plunging them into the ground, going in and out like dolphins. Blue chuckled; he knew that he won this battle. _

___The vines struck the Charizard, enveloping the awestruck Pokémon with the powerful vines, almost like they were sucking the energy out of him. Blue's eyes widened as he watched his Pokémon's steady posture falter into what seemed like a hunchback posture. Defiantly, he yelled for his Pokémon to resist the attack, it was a grass attack and a Pokémon like Charizard should be able to shake it off easily. But the Charizard was already tired from his fight with Red's Pikachu, which proved to be a nuisance with his powerful and fast electrical attacks. The vines released the weary Charizard, who was barely able to stand, let alone battle. As the vines retracted back to its host, Blue stared at his Pokémon's state like he was having a breakdown, which he was. __No way am I losing, not now! ____Blue gritted his teeth._

___Blue, seeing his chance while Charizard was still standing, yelled out an order:_

___"Charizard, pulverize Venusaur with Blast Burn!"_

___Charizard did nothing._

___"I gave you an order, Charizard! Use Blast Burn!"_

Charizard's body fell heavy, albeit softly, on the ground. Blue fell to his knees, looking like he was on the verge of crying. Red sighed in relief, returning Venusaur to her ___Poké ball. He walked over to Blue, offering him a hand. Blue looked up, perplexed. Red smiled warmly, he knew Blue must feel pretty bad right now, and did his best to comfort him. After all, that's what friends are for… If you could call them friends anyway. _

Blue took the hand, Red lifting him up gently; careful not to pull too hard, afraid Blue might actually burst into tears if he did.

"Gramps always tells me that I should treat my ___Pokémon better… So I train them more… I always took them for granted, treated them like crap. What surprises me the most is that they put up with my craps without complaint…" Blue murmured. Red_ simply nodded, noticing a flash of brown from the corner of his eye, he turns around to see a pale Leaf, panting after running what seemed like a marathon.

Raising his eyebrows, Red walks over, leaving the ex-champion to his thoughts. To his surprise, Leaf ignores him, walking over to Blue.

"I would like to challenge you to a—"

"Too late," Blue interrupted, not lifting his wavering gaze from the floor.

Leaf, confused, opened her mouth again to ask. Blue didn't hear the question, too busy in his own thoughts, he simply pointed at Red, who was staring at the door leading to the ___Pokémon Hall of Fame. _

___"Red, I challenge you to a—" Leaf was interrupted yet again, by a frantic Professor Oak running towards them._

___Panting for a few moments, earning him curious looks from Leaf and Red, Professor Oak composed himself and coughed, like he was going to begin some kind of speech. _

Red stopped listening to Professor Oak's long and berated speech, he simply stared at the door to the ___Pokémon Hall of Fame with longing. It was his dream, and having your dreams come true was a dream itself._

Glancing at Blue, he didn't see the smug and cocky rival that was just there a few minutes ago. He saw… _regret_… This man was going to repent for all the mistakes he had made, Red knew it. Reminiscing his journey, Red couldn't help but chuckle, he realized he hasn't spoken a word since the beginning of his journey till his battle with Blue. _It was really stressful for the both of us, I guess, _he thought, before being snapped out of his gaze by Professor Oak, who was dragging him towards… _The door…_

It was the end of a journey. But only the beginning of the end.


End file.
